Pirate's Cove
by Freya-Kendra
Summary: ca. Season 3. En route to exploring an ancient ruined city, the team encounters a unique form of artificial intelligence. References to SG eps Legacy, Dead Man's Switch, Thor's Hammer and Solitude; and the movies "2001: A Space Odyssey" & "Soylent Green."


**Pirate's Cove**

by Freya-Kendra

Rating: PG-13  
Summary: Timing = end of Season 3. References to Legacy, Dead Man's Switch and first season episode Solitudes. Daniel Jackson is excited as he enters the Stargate en route to a planet where an ancient city lies in ruins, and Major Carter muses about this change in the archeologist's attitude. But after Sam steps through the event horizon, she discovers something has gone terribly wrong. Luckily, the major successfully reaches the other side, but what has happened to Daniel?  
Content: mild language, violence  
Notes: This was my first SG- fic , complete with flaws in descriptions of wormhole physics, ala Stargate SG-1 (Length: app. 13,270 words)

Original Story Date: May 22, 2000

* * *

**Pirate's Cove**

Sam Carter watched Colonel O'Neill and Teal'C walk through the Stargate . This would never get old, she realized. Today, somehow, it was even more breathtaking, more exciting than ever before. The event horizon looked so much like water with its tantalizing ring of blue waves that in her current, playful state of mind Sam could hardly contain herself from running up the ramp, pulling her knees to her chin and cannon- balling through to the other side. She doubted General Hammond would approve. There was also the landing to consider, which could prove to be a painful experience.

She smiled and shook her head, dismissing such thoughts. Even the thrill of a high-dive could never come close to the rush she experienced every time she went through that ring and stepped into a whole new world on the other side.

On the ramp ahead of her, Daniel Jackson paused briefly, just long enough to look back at the Air Force Major with his own excited grin. It was his silent way of saying "this is it'. He had the eager look of a kid sitting in the front car of a roller coaster that has just crested the first hill.

Daniel was the culprit behind Sam's own lighthearted mood. When the MALP had sent back video images of the ruins of an enormous, ancient city, the archeologist's eyes lit up in anticipation. It was good to see his enthusiasm returning, his fascination for anything historical. He exuded an almost childish wonderment that infected everyone around him. Even Teal'C had been caught smiling.

They had all been glad to see Daniel passionate about learning again, about seeking knowledge for the sake of knowing, and nothing more. For the last three years, almost from the moment Sam had met him, Daniel's actions, his every decision had been controlled by the needs of others -- the needs of his wife, now dead, the needs of her son, now safe, even the needs of his world.

Sam watched her friend and team-mate disappear into the waves. Then she confidently stepped in behind him. But her confidence was short-lived. Her satisfied musings ended with an abrupt twist, a convoluted, magnetic pull. There was something very wrong with this wormhole.

An instant later she tumbled out onto solid ground. Her head felt as though she'd been kicked hard and the world was spinning beneath her.

"Carter?" The colonel's voice.

There was a question in that single word, but she was not ready to give any answers. She was shaking. Her hands were claws digging deep into the dirt.

She felt a gentle tug on her arm.

"Carter? What happened? Where's Daniel?"

That last question brought her back to her senses as effectively as a hard slap or a splash of cold water.

"Daniel? He didn't come through?"

She looked into the eyes of her CO then, and seeing the worry written there, she knew the answer before he said the words.

"No. He didn't. What happened?"

An icon of strength, Teal'c stood behind the colonel, his staff weapon held ready. But there was no enemy at hand, except fate.

Carter turned her attention to the 'gate, already painfully aware of what she would find. The wormhole had disengaged.

"Oh my God," She said in a horrified whisper, her eyes reflecting a deeper emptiness than that she saw in the "gate. "He was right in front of me."

***

Daniel slammed into concrete as he plummeted out of the roller-coaster wormhole, and was immediately faced with a desperate struggle for air. Precious seconds passed while his lungs refused to cooperate, denying him breath. When finally he gulped down the savory taste of damp, stale air, he rolled onto his back, closed his eyes and relished the sensation. Solid ground. Breathable air. What more could he ask for?

It took several minutes before the ringing in his ears began to subside. Someone said something then, but he couldn't make it out.

"Jack?" Daniel called back.

There was no response.

"Sam? What just happened?"

Again, a voice. Both the speaker and the words were unfamiliar. Surely he had heard them incorrectly. Daniel opened his eyes to darkness, although as they began to adjust he noticed a soft, orange glow in his peripheral vision.

"Teal'c?"

Nothing.

He released his gear and rose gingerly. Dull, throbbing pains assaulted his back and neck as he did so, but he tried to ignore them. He was more concerned with finding out if everyone else was okay.

"Kindly step aside."

"Jack?" Daniel called out softly, hoping his ears had just played another trick on him. The voice still did not sound familiar.

His glasses were gone. But the spots had dissipated enough to allow him to see the room around him. There were stone walls to either side, the orange glow coming from torches along their length. The Stargate was directly in front of him.

This was not the world the MALP had recorded. The 'gate there had resided in a large, boulder-strewn clearing surrounded by a thick forest on all sides but one, where the ruins of an ancient city fought valiantly to hold back the infringing growth. He supposed it might be possible the 'gate had been moved indoors, deep inside the city perhaps. But moved by whom? Or by what? He rejected the thought. Surely he had arrived at a different 'gate. Yet even that seemed implausible.

"Kindly step aside."

He turned around to see an odd, smiling man standing behind the DHD. There was no one else in the room, and no sign at all of Jack, Sam or Teal'c .

***

"No, Colonel! We can't do that," Sam jumped in when she heard Jack tell Teal'c to dial home. "I can't say with any sense of conviction that whatever happened won't happen again. Sir, we might .... Whatever happened to .... Sir, we might not make it back."

"Yes, Major, I've thought of that too," Jack said condescendingly. "But we need to send a message through. Get the SGC working on what happened."

"Of course, Colonel. I'm sorry..., Sir." Shaking, Sam sat back down on the boulder Jack had led her to just a few moments before, and set the cold pack back into place against her forehead.

"How's the head?"

"Fine, Sir."

The colonel studied her, trying to gauge the extent of her trauma. Major Carter's expertise could be crucial in the SGC's ability to expedite a solution, and Daniel's life might very well depend on it. But was she up to it? She had come out of the 'gate as though shot from a cannon, and that bump on her head was not looking good. She was also shaking, and that bothered him. It wasn't like his second-in-command. But she was coherent and her eyes looked clear and focused.

"Ready to explain this to the folks back home?"

"Yes, Sir. Of course."

Yet the colonel held her back a moment more before finally nodding a 'go'.

Jack stood with Teal'c while Sam conversed in her usual techno-babble with the scientists at the SGC. The colonel was able to interpret enough to understand the wormhole now appeared to be perfectly stable. There was no sign of any degradation. Whatever the problem was, it might be limited to outgoing.

"What do ya' think, Teal'c ? A second 'gate here maybe, and a power surge, some...how?" Colonel O'Neill looked at the blue, cloudless sky, aware that lightning could cause such a surge, but also aware that any occurrence of lightning either here or back at base would have been highly unlikely under the existing weather conditions.

"No, sir," Carter answered instead, having ended her conversation with the SGC. She was pale, but more herself. At least she was no longer shaking. "When you and I were pulled through that second 'gate in Antarctica, the wormhole didn't branch off like it did ... like I think it did today. That wormhole actually jumped. It moved from one Stargate to another. This was different."

She hesitated, her eyes darting back and forth as her mind sorted the possibilities. Then she continued her discourse, too edgy to think quietly. "And you didn't sense anything unusual today when you passed through? Neither of you? You just walked through, like on any other mission?"

Colonel O'Neill nodded. "Same as always."

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed. "There was no difference between this wormhole and any other we have traversed."

Sam shook her head. "When we found that second 'gate, Teal'c, you and Daniel ... the motion of that shift caught you both just like it caught the colonel and I. You were thrown out onto the ramp at the SGC with about as much force as were in Antarctica." She shook her head again. "No. This wasn't like that at all. This wormhole formed a second branch. I don't even know how it could be possible, but I'm sure of it."

"And that means?"

"Colonel, Daniel might have been pulled through that other branch."

Sam waited for the reactions of her teammates.

"He could still be alive out there somewhere." She turned once again to the empty Stargate. "We've got to find him."

***

Daniel rose to his feet, noticing more aches and pains as he did so, particularly in his right leg. He limped cautiously toward the stranger, a tall, slender, white-haired man wearing a white lab coat and white gloves.

"Kindly step aside," The stranger repeated. The odd man smiled, but made no real attempt at congeniality. His attention was focused entirely on a panel of controls beside the DHD.

Daniel raised his eyebrows in surprise at the command, but otherwise ignored it. "Who are you? Where are my friends?"

"Kindly step aside." The man's attention remained elsewhere.

Daniel limped closer to the stranger. Despite the white hair, the man looked young. Very young. Barely a man at all. His face was not only clean shaven, but unnaturally smooth.

"What is this place?" Daniel asked next.

Finally, the man looked up at him.

"Kindly step aside."

"God, would you stop that!" Daniel yelled in frustration. "What is going on here? Where are my friends?"

But no answers were forthcoming. The man ignored him and began to dial an address into the DHD. Daniel stood where he was, equally stubborn. He waited until the last glyph was entered, then grudgingly moved out of the path of the forming wormhole scant seconds before the last chevron was engaged.

Daniel hobbled over to stand alongside the DHD, biting back angry comments in the hope of taking a different approach.

"I am Daniel Jackson." He tried to meet the odd man's eyes as he spoke, but Mr. Smiley wasn't interested. Daniel clenched his jaw for a moment, but didn't give up.

"We are peaceful explorers from the...." Daniel had let his own eyes wander. When they came to rest at the odd man's mid-section, he noticed the man was only half there. Daniel saw only a torso, with arms and a head. The man was connected to the DHD as well as to an adjacent control panel by a swiveling shelf. There was nothing at all from the waist down -- nothing but a cluster of spider webs.

"What...," Daniel's question was cut short when he saw the bolts which connected the torso to the shelf. The man was not a man at all, but a machine.

Intrigued, but urged on by a suddenly intense sense of isolation, Daniel looked at the address on the DHD. Five of the glyphs matched those for the world they had been en route to before ... before whatever it was that happened, *_happened_*. The sixth was the glyph for Earth. The last one could be an alternate for SG-1's original destination, if this was a second 'gate.

Daniel could have been thrown here by mistake. Some strange anomaly had altered the course of the wormhole. This "Gatekeeper" knew of the mistake, maybe even somehow caused it to happen, and was trying to make amends by sending him back.

He shook his head at his groundless assumptions. He was jumping to conclusions, and still could not explain what might have happened to his teammates. Yet, in all likelihood that *_was_* the address for Earth. He knew he could find answers at the SGC. That was a fact, not an unsubstantiated hope.

Daniel started toward the "gate. But he could not reach the event horizon. He bumped into an unseen wall. *_A force field?_* He wondered. Unlike the personal shields of the Goa'uld's, this was more of a containment field. It seemed very much like what he had seen the bounty hunter, Aris Boch use. Daniel did not like the similarity.

Had Aris Boch been here? Had he changed his mind and decided to collect a bounty on SG-1? If so, the man would be disappointed. The price on Daniel's head wasn't as high as that for the other members of his team, or so the bounty hunter had led him to believe. He hoped that didn't mean his friends were in an even worse predicament than he was right now.

While Daniel was wrestling with these thoughts, the Gatekeeper raised its arm and held out what Daniel recognized to be a Goa'uld communication device. He liked this new development even less than he did the force field. What kind of trouble was he in for now?

A moment later, the glass sphere floated across the room unaffected by the force field, and then vanished into the wormhole.

***

"Colonel?" Sam warned when an odd glow began to form near the Stargate.

"Take cover!" Jack commanded.

Each of the three remaining members of SG-1 dropped to the ground behind the scant cover of boulders and aimed their weapons. After the glow had dissipated, a single, small, glass sphere appeared before them.

"What the...?" Jack kept his weapon trained on the object.

"It appears to be a Goa'uld communication orb," Teal'c observed. "But I am not familiar with the method by which it was made to arrive here."

Still wary, Jack lowered his weapon. "So, if we're getting a phone call from ET, where is he?"

"Such an orb does not function in the manner of a telephone. Unless there is a ship in the vicinity, there is likely a message recorded within."

"Yeah, well don't call us, we'll call you."

"This doesn't make any sense, sir," Sam offered. "Even if there is a ship in orbit around this planet, how would this have been sent here without transport rings? And if there isn't a ship, where did it come from?"

The sphere itself began to glow then. The face of a man appeared inside. With long, unkempt, dark hair falling to his shoulders, a thick dark beard streaked with gray, and a mouth full of yellowed and broken teeth, he looked like neither your typical Goa'uld system lord, nor a Jaffa. Yet the man did seem to be wearing Jaffa armor, at least upon his shoulders, the extent to which he was visible in the orb.

The image was distorted and choppy in the manner of a disrupted satellite feed, but as the man spoke, the colonel was reminded of a warped, scratched and over-played vinyl record.

"You have trespassed, ... spassed." The man's voice was harsh, the gravelly sound of grinding stones. "For this crime ... for this crime, we have extract...acted pay...payment. Leave now, and... now, and warn others... thers to stay away. If you do not, payment will be dou ... will be doubled."

The image faded, but the sphere continued to hover.

"Anyone you know, Teal'c?" Jack asked.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "He is not Jaffa. It is possible he is Karsha'K."

"Car sock?"

"Karsha'K. You would call them pirates."

"Oh, this just keeps getting better, doesn't it?"

"Teal'c," Sam asked. "Is it common for pirates to have such advanced technologies?"

"Karsha'K steal technologies. Much like the Goa'uld, they use the technologies of others to increase their own power."

A moment later the Stargate flared to life. Jack cursed under his breath, and targeted the center of the event horizon. But the only thing that came through was a message from General Hammond.

"Colonel O'Neill, we just had an off world activation that somehow allowed a Goa'uld communication device to materialize in front of the iris. It seems someone is trying to blackmail us. Given SG-1's current status, do you have any explanation for this?"

The three remaining members of SG-1 turned to one another, each set of eyes reflecting back the same unvoiced questions, the same utter bewilderment.

Jack closed his eyes and shook his head, muttering a soft, "oh, for crying out loud."

***

The force field would not let Daniel near either the DHD or the Stargate, and the Gatekeeper had shut down. Shortly after sending the communication sphere through the 'gate, the keeper had produced another, which had floated toward one of the torches and subsequently disintegrated in a bright flash.

Whatever had caused the flash must also have affected the Gatekeeper, for it immediately ceased to function, its head locked in a permanent tilt. Its eyes were still open, its lips still curled into that ever-present, annoying smile, but it no longer moved. It didn't even blink. It looked like nothing more than a display at Disneyland after closing.

Frustrated, Daniel turned away, intent on exploring his surroundings and finding out what other surprises lurked there. With any luck, he might even find the controls for the force field.

He limped over to the nearest wall and reached for one of the torches, then pulled his hand back quickly in disgust at the familiar, sticky feel of spider webs. Looking closer, he saw the entire wall was blanketed by them. Millions of silky strands were draped along the row of torches and infested with thousands of thick-bodied, black arachnids, giving the effect of an overdone Halloween exhibit.

It was clear no one had tended these torches, this entire room, in quite some time. Yet there was no charred wood, no obvious energy consumption. Daniel cautiously passed his hand near the flame, the image of the exploding sphere still in his mind, but he sensed no heat.

The torches were as real, and apparently as maintenance free, as the man by the DHD.

Curiosity began to give way to pain. Daniel started to realize his leg might not be able to take this abuse much longer. He needed to immobilize it, keep his weight off of it. He could feel his ankle swelling inside his boot, and his knee was now refusing to bend. When the constant throbbing flared to an intense crescendo, Daniel grabbed at a torch for support, but it gave way. The handle twisted in his hand, throwing him off balance. He started to fall.

He never hit the ground. Somehow the air itself seemed to coalesce, glowing in a white light and solidifying enough to support him. He was thankful to regain his footing, but as he tried to push away the thick air surrounded him, enveloped him. The glow intensified into a brilliant flash, then bored through the floor, pulling Daniel down, right through the solid rock.

***

Colonel O'Neill paced back and forth in front of the sphere, which still hovered near the Stargate, but was otherwise inactive. Talk of space pirates had only further set the colonel on edge, and he kept a close grip on his rifle.

Sam Carter, herself perplexed by the events, let her mind wander briefly. She looked at the boulder-strewn clearing and thought back to the moment when Daniel had seen the MALP's first recording of this world. The condition of the area around the 'gate as well as that of the nearby ruins had led the archeologist to believe an ancient battle had been fought here using highly effective, explosive weapons that contradicted the fifteenth-century architecture denoted by the buildings in the city. Colonel O'Neill had quickly agreed that fifteenth-century explosives could never have caused this degree of devastation.

Sam smiled, remembering Daniel's startled reaction when the colonel revealed his in-depth knowledge of ancient warfare, and Jack O'Neill's own look of indignation in response to Daniel's surprise.

But Sam's smile at the memory faded quickly. *Where was Daniel now?*

Her CO's voice cut through the major's reverie. "So, Teal'c , just what *_are_* we dealing with here? Pirates? Goa'ulds? Both?" It looked as though the colonel spoke directly to the sphere. He refused to look away, even for a moment.

"It is said a small number of system lords will trade with Karsha'K." Teal'c watched the colonel's anxious pacing as the Jaffa kept his own, deceptively immobile guard. "However, none will admit to such transactions. Karsha'K do not accept the system lords as gods. They accept no sovereigns."

"Are these road shocks into kidnapping? Bounty hunting, maybe?"

Teal'c tilted his head and gave a slight nod, though O'Neill was not looking at him to see the gesture. "If there is profit to be gained."

"'Course." Then, in a soft tone more for himself than anyone else, Colonel O'Neill took on an exaggerated, peg-legged pirate accent and offered, "arrgghh , give me y'er gold, mate-y."

Teal'C looked at him quizzically.

"Where do the Karsha'K come from?" Sam asked then. "Could we find their home world?"

"They are loyal to no home world. They originate from a variety of planets, many different cultures."

"Okay, so how do we find them?" Sam started thinking out loud. "They have to be nearby. I think we can rule out a ship, since there's been no sign of transport rings, and no additional contact. The message said we trespassed, but neither the MALP nor the UAV showed any signs of habitation. Underground, maybe, but the way the wormhole branched, I don't see how another 'gate could be here on this world. Unless it didn't branch at all. I have no proof that's what happened, just speculation on my part. I suppose it's possible it just jumped, dropping Daniel ... wherever it dropped him, then jumping back to drop me here. It's just...."

"Carter," Colonel O'Neill interrupted. "Your point?"

"I wish I had one, sir. It would be easier to believe in some natural, if unusual phenomenon than to think someone could actually cause the wormhole to shift, however it shifted. Whether it branched or jumped isn't even what bothers me now. Just the idea that someone could alter the course of a wormhole,... " She shook her head in bewilderment. "I still wouldn't consider it possible if we hadn't just witnessed...."

"A pirate in a crystal ball that just popped out of thin air?"

"I also would not have thought these events possible." Teal'c agreed. "However, if such a device exists, then it must not fall into the hands of the system lords."

"Unless it already has," Sam suggested.

"Ah, what a wonderful thought," Jack pitched in. "Pirate-system-lord-terrorist-hijackers. Just what are we dealing with, here?"

"Colonel, this could threaten the entire Stargate program."

"Yes it could, Major. It's not bad enough we've already got Thor zapping us up whenever he wants to chat."

"Uh, *_you_*, Colonel."

"Excuse me?"

"Thor. He's never taken any of the rest of us. Only you."

"Yeah, well, thank you for pointing that out."

"Sorry, sir."

The sphere suddenly blinked back to life. It glowed, but transmitted no further images.

"What is that thing doing, Teal'c ?" Colonel O'Neill finally stopped his pacing. His eyes were fixed on the sphere.

Sam moved to stand beside him. "I get the feeling it's been watching us."

"Such a device does not have the capability to perform a secondary visual recording unless the original has been purged," Teal'c offered.

"Under normal circumstances that might be true," Sam replied. "But I'm not sure anything is normal around here."

Teal'c gave a brief nod of concurrence.

Sam barely noticed, as the seed of an idea began to take root. "Thor?" She said then, questioning her own conclusion.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "The message of warning we received does not correspond with the ways of the Asgard."

"No, Teal'c . I don't mean Thor's involved. I mean that thing started working again when we mentioned him. We've been talking about technology levels that surpass every culture we've come across, except maybe for the Tollans and the Asgard."

"So...," Jack prodded.

"I don't know. It might be nothing, just coincidence, but...."

"Major?"

"Sir, maybe they... it ... recognized -- or was programmed to recognize -- the Asgard . It could be they're allied with them. Or ... they could perceive the Asgard as a threat."

"Great. So we just pissed 'em off."

As though in answer, the sphere shot out a beam of light. It struck Jack at the shoulder, then quickly expanded, blanketing him in a shield of energy.

"O'Neill!" Teal'c called out uselessly. He targeted the sphere with his staff weapon, but to no effect.

Sam made the same attempt with her automatic, hoping good old-fashioned gun powder could do what an energy weapon could not. Still the sphere was untouched.

The colonel was trapped, aware but immobilized, as the light pulsated around him, wrapping him in a tight cocoon.

An instant later, he was pulled underground.

***

After he blinked away the white flashes from whatever transporter device had taken him, Daniel found himself in a small alcove, facing a highly modern, sterile-looking room with steel-like walls and floors that looked like white glass. Unlike the 'gate room, this one was well lit, though Daniel could see no direct light source.

A tentative step out of the alcove proved his injured leg could no longer support him. He groaned loudly in pain as he fell to the ground, then lay still, gritting his teeth and forcing his eyes closed as though refusing to see the damage done could also deny its existence. He thought he sensed a vibration from the floor, but couldn't be certain it wasn't just the throbbing of his own stressed muscles. Slowly, the pain subsided. He took a long, deep breath and noticed a faint, metallic aroma.

He opened his eyes to find a woman standing above him.

Startled, Daniel's muscles tensed reflexively, causing a new round of pain. When the pain finally eased once more, he returned his attention to the woman. She was beautiful. Perfect. Cover girl, super model perfect. Too perfect to be real. Large, round, brown eyes looked into his. Full red lips framed brilliantly white teeth as she gave him a welcoming smile. Hair as white as the Gatekeeper's shattered the illusion. Suddenly this woman lost all appeal.

Daniel expected her to say *_kindly step aside_*, but she just smiled at him and raised her hand, revealing a Goa'uld healing device. She knelt beside him, holding the device over his leg.

"You're not Goa'uld," Daniel said. Then, reconsidering, "are you?"

She just smiled.

"It will only work if you're Goa'uld."

But the device must have ignored him as well, because his injuries began to respond to the treatment. He could feel a warm tingling. He knew he was being healed.

When it was done, she pulled her hand away, rose to her feet, and floated rather than walked across the floor to the other end of a long hallway until she disappeared, seeming to melt right into the wall.

Daniel immediately followed, not even bothering to test the results of her healing. Though he wasn't particularly trusting of Goa'uld healing technologies, he'd had enough experience with them to know what to expect. His leg was back to normal.

When he reached the wall he pressed his hands against it, half believing he could walk through it as well. But it was solid. He examined the entire surface of what should be the door, brushing his fingers across the smooth metal and looking for secret buttons or levers, anything. It proved to be a useless effort. He found no clues to the woman's seemingly magical departure.

*_Okay, think, Daniel. What would Sam do? How about Jack?_*

He pounded his fist against the wall. "Hey, let me out of here!"

There was no response.

Next, he tried the floor, stomping his foot, thinking there might be a trigger beneath him. When that didn't work, he half-heartedly said "Open sesame." Still, nothing happened. He banged on the wall one last time in frustration, and then slid to the floor.

It was useless. Daniel Jackson was trapped.

A long time later, minutes ticking by like hours in that empty, lonely room, Daniel heard a loud rumble overhead. He rose to his feet, and moved back to the alcove. Once again, he sought a hidden switch, something to identify the device that had drawn him down here. Once again, he failed to find it.

***

Teal'c remained motionless, though Sam could see the flexing of his muscles, the clenching and unclenching of fists, the quiver of tension in his jaw. Finally he turned to face her.

The major drew back in surprise, seeing the intensity of anger in his dark eyes. No. More than anger. Sheer rage. Teal'c was a warrior trained to control his emotions. After all, a true warrior must see clearly at all times, and emotions are blinding. Yet here he was, with a countenance that screamed for vengeance. Sam was grateful at that moment to be on his side. She opened her mouth to speak, not quite sure what words she could offer to sedate him, perhaps even a bit fearful of his response.

Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the anger vanished. Still, Sam noticed the tightness of his muscles did not slacken.

"Someone approaches," The Jaffa observed calmly.

Sam was slow to respond, still stunned. When she followed his eyes, she saw only the distant trees.

"Where?"

Teal'c nodded toward the east. Sam saw nothing. She pulled out her binoculars, and brought them into focus. Only then could she see the solitary figure emerging from the trees.

The two watched closely as the figure moved toward them. Sam continued to scan the tree line, looking for others, yet it seemed this person was alone. Soon the lenses revealed a very old woman with ragged white hair worn in thick, carelessly wound braids reaching just beneath her waist. She was dressed in odds and ends from a variety of cultures: laced boots and hooded cloak such as the Viking descendents wore on Cimmeria; chain mail like that of the medieval era on Earth; metal wrist-guards and bits and pieces of Jaffa armor. Around the woman's waist Sam spotted several devices of advanced technological design. She wore a zat gun, or "zatnikatel" as Teal'c would call it, as well as several other items Sam did not recognize.

"She seems to be alone," The major announced.

"I concur," Teal'c replied.

Yet both remained guarded, ready to draw their weapons if the need should arise.

Once the woman was within shouting distance, she raised her arms, showing they were empty of weaponry.

"Hail, friends!" She called out, her voice rough.

As she drew nearer, Sam could see a wide grin on the old woman's face. "Hag" might be a better description, the major contemplated. With the missing teeth the old woman displayed, the disheveled hair, the worn and wrinkled skin, she resembled a classic fairy-tale witch.

"Got yourselves into a bit of a mess, did you?" The hag laughed. "I come to tell you, you might as well leave. You will never see your friends again."

"Who are you?" Sam asked. "Why do you say that?"

"I am Gudrid. And I say that, because I know it to be true." The old hag settled onto a boulder, sighing loudly as she did so. "The system got away from us, it did. Now there is no controlling it."

"What system?"

"No, no." The hag raised her hand, displaying a tattoo of a sword on her palm. "That is not how it works. You got something for me, I give something to you."

Confused, Sam looked at Teal'c . His nostrils flared in disgust. His eyes never left the old woman.

"She is Karsha'K." He spat the word.

"You make it sound like a plague," The old woman shot playfully back.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied. "A plague which attacks cargo vessels and claims them for its own. Karsha'K are worse than Goa'uld. They have no loyalties."

"Ho, ho, now wait there," The hag interrupted. "We have loyalties. We are loyal to ourselves." She laughed alone at her joke. "Just like a Jaffa to have no sense of humor. But I would expect more from a Sholvah."

The hag looked at Sam. "Oh, do not look so surprised, girl. If he was not Sholvah he would not be talking about his gods that way, and he would not be out alone with a young, pretty thing like you, even in that," She waved to indicate Sam's uniform, "get up."

"Pirates," Sam said under her breath. "Holy Hannah."

***

The colonel was alert and utterly helpless as he was pulled deeper into the bowels of the planet. He could sense dirt and rock all around him, could almost taste it. Yet there was a separation from it as well. He didn't try to make sense of what was happening. That was for Carter to figure out later. Right now, he just wanted to find a way to break free.

He was bound so tightly by the energy field he couldn't move at all. It barely provided enough room for him to breathe. He figured the fact that he could breathe at all was probably an oversight.

Finally, his descent began to slow. A moment later, it stopped completely.

The energy field unraveled itself and dissipated. He needed a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, but made use of the time by stretching his neck and flexing his arms. He was grateful to be free to move about -- and to still have his weapon. He was ready to use it.

He had been deposited in a dimly lit room. Aside from the Stargate at its center, the room looked like it belonged in some kind of Vincent Price movie. The torture chamber should be through a secret passage over there somewhere. And right in front of him was Igor. Well, this guy looked a bit better than Igor ever did; at least he was missing the hump.

Jack aimed his weapon in warning. "Okay, where's Daniel?"

Igor just smiled blankly.

Jack audibly clicked off the safety and stepped toward the DHD.

"Blond guy, about so high, glasses. Ring a bell?"

Nothing. Just that stupid smile.

Now directly in front of the DHD, Jack leaned forward and waved his hand over Igor's eyes. "Hellooo ...." The guy didn't even blink.

"What the...?" Finally Jack saw the shelf and bolts. "Ooo ." He cringed. "Now that's gotta hurt."

***

Teal'c glared at the hag, yet spoke to Sam. "Karsha'K are traitors even to their own kind. Her information could not be trusted."

"My own kind?" The old woman responded. "If by my own kind you mean those fools on Cimmeria then you might be right. But they have long forgotten who they were. They do not remember their own heritage. I do. I am a Viking born. I do -- I did -- what Vikings were bred to do."

"And that's being a pirate?" Sam asked.

"No. An explorer. Finding new lands and new cultures, and taking what is owed."

"Owed?"

"Yes. And now you owe me. You see, this is how it works."

"You attack ships with no reason," Teal'c said then. "You kill those who owe you nothing."

"Now that is not true. It does get complicated, though. Sometimes the debts are not obvious, but they are there, I assure you. Might be a bargain made generations past the gods give me to collect. When destiny places a ship in my hand, I simply accept the obligation."

"The gods?" Sam asked. "You mean Thor?"

"Sometimes Thor. Sometimes Odin. Or the others. It all depends."

"Have you ever met the Asgard?"

"Ah, yes. This is where you tell me they are not gods. And this is where I tell you that our gods are what we make them to be. They fill what needs we have to show how we live and explain why it is so. My gods are the gods of my ancestors. My god Thor rules in Valhalla, and he is a great warrior. You speak of the Asgard, and the creature who calls himself Thor. Yes, I know of them. But your Thor and mine are not the same."

"So you make your own gods to justify piracy," Sam concluded.

Gudrid smiled and shrugged. "I live by a code. That is all that really matters, after all, is it not? And according to that code, right now your debt is due. What do you have to eat?"

Sam reached into her pack and tossed the old woman an MRE pouch.

"What is this?"

Frustrated by the delay, Sam grabbed the pouch back, ripped it open, and pulled out some crackers.

"Hmmm," Gudrid examined the crackers. Deciding to accept them, she continued speaking.

"There was already a city under the city." Gudrid waved her hand behind her, absently indicating the ruins. "But it was empty when we got here. Oh, must have been forty years ago or so. Had everything you could ever want. Even had its own Chappa'ai."

"A Stargate?" Sam looked expectantly toward the ruins. "How can you control two separate 'gates so close together?" Then she shook her head. First thing's first. "Wait. You're saying that Daniel and the colonel are both right under the city. Teal'c ...."

Gudrid held up her hand. "No." She spewed out a geyser of crumbs as she tried to mumble around a mouthful of crackers. Then, after she had swallowed, she went on. "Even if you do get in, you will not get out. Took me ten years, and I was the only one who did. The rest never made it half-way." She shook her head. "Not even a warrior's death. System just erased them."

She tapped her zat gun. "Takes three hits with this. Takes only one for the system. One zap and you would swear you were never even born."

"But you did make it out," Sam replied. "Just tell us how." She tried to ignore Teal'c's glare of disapproval.

Gudrid looked at Major Carter. "Now that is a pretty tall order. It will require a whole lot more than this dry, tasteless flat-bread."

***

Daniel was waiting. For what, he wasn't sure. That made the minutes even more sluggish. He just sat alone in his niche, in his metal box of a room, and waited.

It had been quite a while since he'd heard the rumble from above. If his watch was accurate, over an hour had passed, time enough for him to concoct a million scenarios for what he'd heard. In nearly all, the 'gate had been activated. It was also possible another flash or explosion such as that which had destroyed the Gatekeeper's second communication sphere had occurred, but the 'gate was foremost in Daniel's mind.

He couldn't help but hope that perhaps SG-1 had come to rescue him, though if that *_was_* the case, they sure were taking their time about getting down here. The twisted torch and broken webs should at least make one of his teammates curious enough to eventually trigger the device, whether by accident or design.

There were plenty of other possibilities as well. Perhaps the Gatekeeper had sent out more communication globes, or pulled more unsuspecting travelers into his domain. Still, if there were other travelers, why weren't *_they_* finding the transport switch?

Unfortunately, there were still other possibilities Daniel really didn't want to consider. Of course, it was these which filled his thoughts the moment he saw the alcove begin to glow.

Daniel scurried to his feet and backed slowly into the hallway. He looked imploringly at the wall the woman had disappeared into as he kept a watchful eye on the growing intensity of the light before him. Whoever was coming, whatever was coming, he could not escape it. He had no choice but to stand there and greet him -- or her -- or it. He shielded his eyes from the last, quick, intense flare. And waited for his waiting to end.

The light blinked out. He saw a figure standing before him. His eyes needed to adjust from the blinding glare before he could see who it was. But he didn't need his eyes just then. The voice he heard was enough.

"Son of a .... I am really, really getting tired of that."

"Jack?" Daniel was honestly surprised, and couldn't suppress a grin of relief. Then he began to realize other implications. "Uh, please tell me Sam's up there and you know how to get back to the 'gate room."

"Nope. We're on our own for now. You okay?"

"Yeah, ... now."

Jack gave him a questioning look.

"Actually, my leg was pretty banged up, but .... You saw the Gatekeeper up there?"

"Yeah. White hair, no legs?"

Daniel nodded. "Well, there was a woman down here. Same hair. She had legs, but...." He didn't bother to describe her floating motion. "Anyway, she had a Goa'uld healing device. She wasn't Goa'uld. In fact, I don't even think she was real. But it worked."

Raised eyebrows. "Where is she now?"

"She, uh, went through that wall, over there."

"Through the wall?"

"Yeah. I've been trying to find a trigger, or a switch, like the torch up top. But it just seems to be a ... wall."

Jack nodded, but his look was suspicious. "You hurt your leg, huh? Not your head?"

"My head's fine, Jack. I'm fine. But...."

Daniel felt the floor rumbling again.

A moment later, two white-haired replicas of the Gatekeeper -- with legs -- floated into the room, somehow coming right through the opposite wall.

***

Once she was satiated with a hot meal from Sam's MRE's , Gudrid led a reluctant Teal'c and an eager Sam Carter into the heart of the ruined city.

"She cannot be trusted," Teal'C had repeated to Sam. "It is possible she abandoned her own people to the system to which she refers."

"Yeah, I know," Sam had agreed. "But right now she's all we have."

So they followed the old woman past the shattered city walls and down ancient streets bordered by the hulking shells of broken towers. It was a perfect setting for ambush. Both members of SG-1 moved cautiously, warily watching the shadows and listening for any small disturbance. Finally, Gudrid pointed to a rectangular piece of metal hidden beneath the splintered remains of a stone wall. It looked out of place, a thing from another time, a glimpse of the future locked somehow into the past.

"There is your door," The old woman said then.

Sam looked at Gudrid, and then dropped to her knees and brushed her hand across the surface of the door. It looked like just a flat piece of metal buried in the dirt. She tapped on it a few times. It did not seem to be made of naquadah, yet steel didn't seem quite right either. She could see no visible means of opening it, other than digging it out.

"You will never get in like that," Gudrid chuckled.

"Then how?" Sam asked.

"Oh, that will require something else to trade. Something big."

Sam's patience came to an abrupt end. She rose and moved to stand directly in front of the old hag.

"Look," Major Carter said with all the fire of an officer dressing down an out-of-line recruit. "You might not care what happens to anyone else, but we do! We're going to find Colonel O'Neill and Daniel Jackson, and we're not going to play any more of your games! Now, either you're with us, or you're not. And if you're not, then just get out of the way, and keep your mouth shut!"

The major continued to glare at the woman, trying hard not to react to the rotten stench of the other's breath and hoping her look mimicked Teal'c's earlier visage at least enough to make the old hag think twice. Then Sam drew away, but continued to cast angry glares in the old hag's direction.

"Teal'c," She said at last, pointing to the steel plate. "You think you can do anything to that with your staff weapon?"

"Hummph," Gudrid offered.

When another glare was sent her way, the hag coughed and nonchalantly turned her head.

Teal'c fired his weapon once directly into the steel. Twice. A third time. Nothing happened. Not a dent. Not a dimple.

"Harrruummph," came Gudrid again.

Another angry look sent Gudrid across the road, where she sat down on something that might have been a windowsill centuries ago. She began to whistle.

Teal'c tried firing into the surrounding dirt. Not long afterwards, he had effectively dug a three-foot trench around the even thicker metal door.

Frustrated, Sam sat down at the rim of the trench, contemplating the next approach.

"We could have the SGC send us some C-4. Plant it right there, and there...."

"Oh, you are not going to give up are you?" The old hag walked slowly back across the road. "Face it. You will not get in without my help!"

Sam's rage nearly did match Teal'c's then, but before she could say a word, Gudrid held up her hand.

"Now you just wait. Just ... just wait." Gudrid looked up to the sky. "Why am I doing this?" She looked back at Sam and shook her head. "I guess I just have nothing left to lose. I certainly have nothing left to fight for, and what is a Viking without a fight, hmm?"

She shook her head again and laughed at Sam's obvious confusion. Then the old woman pulled something off of her belt. It looked like a Goa'uld page turning device. Sam backed away instinctively, repulsed by her unpleasant memory of the Goa'uld-killing parasites Machello had planted in devices just like it. Then the major watched with an obviously distrusting Teal'c as Gudrid waved the object across a corner of the door. An instant later, the door disappeared, revealing a deep, dark hole in the ground.

***

"Kindly follow," Asked the white-haired twin on the right.

Jack glanced at Daniel, as though to silently say *_you've got to be kidding_*, then returned his attention to the mechanical twins. "Kindly tell us what we're doing here, and maybe we'll think about it."

"Kindly follow." Neither of them blinked.

"You're not getting me are you?" Jack took hold of his weapon, but didn't exactly point it at the twins just yet. "You owe us a little information here. Like, who you are for starters. And who you serve would be nice."

"Kindly follow."

"At least it's a way out of here, Jack," Daniel whispered.

The colonel ignored him.

"Looks like it's a draw, fellas."

A strong electric jolt caught the colonel in his left foot.

"Ahhh," he lifted his leg reflexively and looked at the floor, seeing nothing that might have caused such a shock. "Son of a ...."

"Kindly follow."

Now the colonel was angry. He aimed at the twin who spoke. "No. I don't think so. You, move aside."

No response.

Another zap, stronger this time. But the colonel just shifted his stance. He raised his weapon to fire a warning round. Nothing happened. Confused, he inspected it. Everything seemed to be in order, yet it would not fire.

"Kindly follow."

"Maybe we'd better, um, go with them." Daniel moved forward, pulling a very angry Jack in his wake.

They were led through a maze of hallways, each identical to the small room Daniel had been trapped in for so long. They went through doorways which should not even rightfully exist, openings in the walls which just appeared without preamble. There was no telling where the next would form. Some opened in the middle of a hall, some at the end, many others at a variety of points in between.

Daniel watched every move their guides made. He studied the walls, attuned himself to the vibration in the floors. Jack appeared to do the same. But no matter how attentive Daniel forced himself to be, he could not determine just how these doors were being opened. He hoped Jack was having more success.

Finally, they came to an actual *_room_*, furnished with tables set in neat little rows and equipped with various implements Daniel doubted even Sam would recognize. Their guides stopped then, and once again apparently unbidden, another opening appeared, effectively doubling the size of the room. On the other side of that door were dozens of white-haired copies of both the Gatekeeper and the woman who had healed Daniel's leg. Some were sitting, some lying on tables. None moved.

"Kindly repair."

Not bothering to wait for a response, both guides turned away to step through another new opening. The wall sealed tightly behind them.

***

"Now there are a few things you need to know before we go down there," Gudrid was saying, "then maybe you will stay alive long enough to at least *_see_* your friends again. That is, if they have not already done what I am about to tell you not to.

"First, if you do not have one of these," She held up the page-turning device, "do not even *_think_* about touching any of the walls. They are all rigged, and you can never tell where. Ninety spots in a hundred are fine. But it is that other ten you have to worry about. Sometimes it will just be a little jolt. Other times.... Remember what I said about the system erasing my crew?" She patted her zat gun. "Well, it was not entirely true. They were not erased. They were reprocessed.

"See, the system can make its own energy, but not the kind of sustenance we need. The system does not know how to repair itself. It needs folk like us to survive. We need food. So the system was built with the ability to reprocess biologics into nourishment."

"Holy Hannah," Sam said softly.

"Me and my crew never really knew what was being reprocessed before. I did not particularly care to know. You can use your imagination. For one thing, you will never see any rodents or insects in the system itself. Now, the chamber with the Chappa'ai is different. Not completely part of the system. But when you are in the *_system_*...." Gudrid shrugged her shoulders.

"After the reprocessing, what they give you is, well, like that flat-bread you eat. Only chewier. Not as dry. More edible. That was before the system got to where it is now. Changing all the time. I cannot even be certain what to expect of it anymore. Can only tell you what it was like when I left. Things started to go wrong. Heater went on when it was already hot. Cooler when it was cold. The food started getting more ... moist."

The old woman looked up at Sam, and suppressed a smile when she saw the major's disgust. Then Gudrid continued her story.

"Things just were not good. My crew did not handle it very well. Started busting things up. Well, the system was already a mess. It could not afford to get any worse. So it started protecting itself. That was when it started reprocessing us instead of whatever other biologics it had been using. See, the moral here is, if you do not hurt it, maybe it will not destroy you."

Sam looked at the burnt and churned up ground around the thick metal at the tunnel's entrance, and her eyes widened. "You let us attack that door knowing how this *_system_* defends itself?"

Gudrid chuckled. "Oh, you could never damage that metal. The walls, you do not touch. You would not be able to damage them. But you also better not *_touch_* them. The drones and the equipment, well, those you handle very carefully."

***

After ensuring the robots in the other half of the room were truly non-functioning, Colonel O'Neill uselessly sought some means of opening a door -- any door -- while Daniel Jackson moved from table to table, studying the various devices atop them.

"Tried that," Daniel said without looking up as Jack ran his fingers along the corners where the far wall met the ceiling.

The colonel gave up, and then began kicking at the bottom of the wall and stomping on the floor.

"Tried that, too."

"Is there anything you didn't try?" Jack asked.

"Um, no. Nothing."

"How about 'open sesame'?"

Daniel smiled then looked up sheepishly. "Actually..."

"Great."

A moment later, as Jack stood back and stared at the cold, steel wall, Daniel touched a button and was rewarded when a three-dimensional display of lights rose up in front of him.

"Hello," Daniel said, drawing the colonel's attention.

"What's that?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"Well, it looks like a derivation of Norse runes."

He hesitated as he watched for Jack's response, then, "I think I've just found their library."

"Sweet. Just don't go reading 'War and Peace'. Look for blueprints, floor plans. Anything that'll get us out of here."

A half-hour later, while Jack continued to poke through piles of odds and ends, Daniel made another announcement.

"This is incredible!"

"Find us an exit, yet?"

"Jack, this talks about a battle between the gods. I think they're actually talking about the Asgard and the Goa'uld. It looks like the Asgard built this *_shield_* or shelter to protect the local inhabitants." Daniel paused and looked away from the text. "I wonder what went wrong. Why isn't anyone left?"

"Blueprints?" Jack prodded.

"Right."

At least four hours passed while Daniel tried to sort through the extensive and difficult database. Finally, he sat back, closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose. "Wish I had my glasses," He said aloud.

He felt Jack tap his shoulder.

"Wish I could relieve you." The colonel leaned close and squinted at the odd arrangement of symbols, and then shook his head. "Greek to me."

Then Jack turned around and aimlessly shouted to the room itself, "Hey, how 'bout some food here? Even prisoners get bread and water."

Minutes later, the woman floated in.

"Okay, now I didn't mean that literally," Jack said, somewhat less than satisfied with the crackers and pitcher of water he saw on the tray she carried. "What I could really go for is a nice, thick steak, and some..."

The woman ignored him. She set down the tray, and then glided over to Daniel. Sensing her near him, Daniel opened his eyes to find her placing the healing device back onto her hand.

"No," He said, noticing the device. "That's not necessary."

She lifted her hand to his forehead.

"No." Daniel pushed her hand away.

She moved it back, and activated the device, sending waves of energy toward his aching eyes.

"I said "no'!" Daniel forced her hand away, and jumped out of his chair, knocking it over.

A jolt struck him then. Colonel O'Neill saw it as a stream of white light projected from a point near the center of the closest wall. It hit Daniel in the chest, and sent him flying across the room. He landed in a heap in the far corner. He didn't move.

Jack ran to his side as the woman began to float away. "Hey," he called after her. "How about that healing device?"

She ignored him.

***

As he drifted back to consciousness, Daniel wondered if anyone had gotten the license plate of the truck that hit him. Then he opened his eyes to his shining, steel prison, and his memory flooded back.

"Still with me here, Daniel?" Jack asked cautiously.

"Umm. Yeah. I think so." He pushed himself to a more comfortable sitting position, cringing at the new assault on his muscles. "I guess they don't take no for an answer."

"Apparently not," The colonel responded. He squeezed Daniel's shoulder companionably, and rose to get the tray.

***

Daniel rubbed his eyes and then watched Colonel O'Neill nibbling at yet another cracker.

"You know, these aren't half bad once you get used to them," Jack said. "You sure you don't want to try one?"

Daniel felt bile rising into his throat and looked away, not bothering with an answer. His vision wasn't quite right, which was not an easy thing to cope with when he was already struggling without his glasses. And if that wasn't enough to make him queasy, his head felt like someone had just used it for soccer practice. He was sure he had a concussion. But he was also all they had right now.

He forced himself to return his attention to the database, and almost immediately came to a very interesting file. Not expecting to find anything so quickly, he blinked his eyes, believing his mind was just showing him what he wanted to see. But when he looked again, he knew the answer was in front of him.

"Got it," He said it almost as a question, bewildered by what could only have been sheer dumb luck.

Jack looked over his shoulder at the three-dimensional image.

"That's not...." The rest of the colonel's question dropped away. He didn't even want to say the words.

Daniel took the long way around answering, as usual. "The machines communicate with each other. The Gatekeeper, and the others -- robots I guess you'd call them -- are all part of one big system. They're like individual cells that are all part of one, larger organism. They communicate with everything, even the walls. Essentially, they just have to *_think_* to open a door. But for us, there's ... this," He pointed to the image.

"Tell me that's not one of those ...."

"A page-turning device," Daniel answered. "It's incredible, really, to think what they've been able to do, how they actually convert technologies to...."

"A page-turning device?"

"Yes, Jack. They've somehow altered it to, essentially, *_think_* the walls open...."

"Like the one Machello put his Goa'uld-killers in?"

Silence.

"Jack," Daniel said finally. "This place looks like it must've been deserted a long, long time ago. Probably well before Machello's time."

"Probably?" Jack raised his eyebrows and tilted his head. Then, "What if .... What ... *_if_* this place was a Goa'uld stronghold, and Machello's little worms are *_why_* it's deserted?"

"Then there should be bodies, don't you think? Skeletons, at least?"

Colonel O'Neill sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head. "Okay. Let's start looking. There's a couple of piles over here I haven't completely torn apart, yet."

Jack found it a few minutes later. "Oh, Daniel," He said, in a sing-song sort of way.

Once he had the archeologist's attention, Jack pointed to the object he had unearthed.

"That's it," Daniel answered, once again surprised a solution might actually be close at hand. He reached out to pick it up.

"Don't, Daniel" Jack grabbed his hand. "Look, at least I got that injection from Carter. Could be I still have some of that Goa'uld protein in my blood. You definitely don't. If there are any of Machello's little worms in there, I might be a little more immune than you."

"Right," Daniel admitted, drawing his hand away.

"Right," Jack repeated softly. Then he poised his own hand over the device. He flexed his fingers for a moment, a hunter preparing to take his prey. Finally, he plunged in and grabbed the device, clutching it tightly as though it might try to scurry away from him.

"Okay," He said. "Now what?"

"Well, supposing it's not here because it's broken like all these robots...."

The colonel gave Daniel a look that said *_don't even go there_!*

"I *_am_* assuming it works. It makes sense these things might have been piled here when the robots that carried them were shut down. Or...." He didn't finish.

"Or?"

"Or, since the robots don't actually need one of these, it might have ended up here when the last of the living residents ... went away."

The wall opened again. Jack shoved his hands in his pockets to hide the device as the twins reappeared.

"Which have you repaired?" One said.

Daniel and Jack looked at one another.

"Excuse me?" Jack responded. "I think you've got us confused with someone else. So I guess you might as well just send us back. I mean if it's a repairman you want, look for the guy with the pants that go about ... here...." He gestured half way down his buttocks, "tools all around his belt. Can't miss him."

"Which have you repaired?" The mechanical man repeated, smiling all the while.

"We can't repair your robots," Daniel offered. "We don't have the knowledge...."

"You," It pointed to Daniel, "have knowledge to read archives." It indicated the computer.

"Umm, no," Daniel said. "I don't have the skills. I don't have the training to understand your technology."

"You, repair."

Daniel opened his mouth to once again refuse, but Jack cut him off. "Uh, Daniel," The colonel said softly. "They don't like the word "no'. Remember?" Jack took his hands out of his pockets and patted his pant leg, a silent way of saying *_it really doesn't matter anyway, because we're getting out of here now_*.

Daniel let out a rush of air and nodded. "Okay. I will ... repair" He waved absently toward the other side of the room.

"Yes," The robot said. "You," It pointed to Jack, "are collateral."

"Excuse me?" Jack's response was simultaneous with Daniel's, "What?"

An instant later, the wall shot out another beam of light. This one struck Jack and wrapped him in a tidy, tight cocoon, though it kept his face free.

"Oh, hell," Jack said.

"Oh, no," Daniel objected. "I will not do anything for you unless you free him."

Smiling, the twin who remained silent pointed to Jack. The colonel winced in obvious pain.

"Stop it!" Daniel demanded.

Jack's pain worsened. When he could contain it no longer, he yelled out in agony.

"Stop!" Daniel shouted. "Okay. Okay. I'll do it. Just stop!"

***

Major Carter was lost. Gudrid had led them through so many obscure passages, all of which looked alike, that Sam knew she could never find her way back to the tunnel's entrance on her own. She hoped Teal'c had been more observant, but she couldn't imagine how.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" She asked.

The old woman nodded. "Lived here too long not to know."

Gudrid opened another door. This time they were greeted by two white-haired, identical men who smiled profusely. Sam lifted her rifle. Gudrid pushed it back.

"Do not hurt the system," The old woman said.

Sam looked at her in confusion before lowering her weapon.

"Kindly follow," One of the twins said.

***

Daniel's skull was throbbing, his stomach churning, his nerves hopelessly frayed, and he was having a problem with double-vision. He wanted nothing more than to tear the head -- or *heads* -- right off this robot and throw it across the room. If he knew the twins would make him suffer the consequences of his refusal rather than Jack, he would have acted on this impulse. He didn't care anymore. But he could not give up on Jack.

Colonel O'Neill was slowly being crushed by the cocoon of energy that had taken hold of him. Every time Daniel got angry, every time he stopped just to rub his eyes, the cocoon wrapped his friend tighter. Jack had given up on trying to talk, instead saving all of his effort for the one simple act of breathing. There wasn't enough room for his lungs to expand. He could only take in short, quick gasps.

Dr. Daniel Jackson, archeologist, took another look at the diagram on the computer's display, and then clenched his teeth until he thought they would shatter rather than voice the expletives that came to mind. Hieroglyphics at least made sense. This stuff was meaningless.

*_Greek to me_.* Remembering Jack's earlier words, Daniel almost laughed.

He had to keep going. He had to try. He could not give up on Jack. He pushed himself harder, tightening connections, replacing old pieces with new ones that seemed to have the same characteristics.

Finally, he thought he might be getting somewhere when the robot's hand twitched. But nothing more happened.

There was a time bomb ticking, ticking away. Daniel knew it was about to explode. He wondered at the irony then, and grinned scornfully. He could have cried. If Jack died, Daniel would have no reason left to do anything these machines wanted of him. Both sides would lose. It was almost enough to make him give up. Then he heard Jack gasping desperately for air, and he couldn't do it.

Daniel needed to focus. Mentally at least, if not visually. He decided to try a different data board. He rose too quickly. His head began to spin. Then everything went black.

***

Sam had a sick feeling in her stomach as she followed Gudrid behind the odd, white-haired men; but she had no other choice. She could feel Teal'c's tension as well. They had allowed themselves to become confined in a labyrinth of steel. *_No_*, Sam corrected herself. *_She_* had allowed it. It had been her choice to follow Gudrid. Teal'c had acquiesced, but he had clearly not approved. If anything happened, Sam would have no one to blame but herself.

When the next passage opened, Major Carter froze to see Colonel O'Neill trussed like a mummy in wrappings born of a bright light like the one that had pulled him down here hours before. His eyes were closed, his head bowed. Across from him, Daniel Jackson lay still on the floor. A white-haired woman stood near the archeologist, fumbling to attach what looked like a Goa'uld healing device to her hand. The woman could not seem to get it in place. Like a malfunctioning machine, she repeated clumsy, awkward movements over and over again, the cycle incomplete, unable to move on.

Teal'c responded while Sam gaped, trying to make sense of what she saw. Unable to reach the colonel through the energy field, the Jaffa hurried to Daniel.

"He lives," He announced.

"Oh, not for long, I would say," Gudrid offered.

"Why not?" Sam shot back angrily.

"If the system can not heal him," She pointed to the white- haired woman, "it will reprocess him. You just watch."

"We have to shut it down!"

"Too late," Gudrid said. The healer-woman had ceased to function. She -- it -- stood immobile, its head cocked to one side, the healing device hanging from its loose grip.

"No!" Sam went to Daniel's side, and together with Teal'c stood fast, ready to shield their fallen friend.

"Oh, that will not help. The system will just reprocess you, too."

Neither moved, though both began to study the walls warily. Teal'c held his staff weapon ready. Sam didn't bother with her rifle. She knew it would offer no defense against the capabilities of this nameless system.

"You would risk your lives like that?" Gudrid asked.

"We won't just let it kill him," Sam said at the same time as Teal'c's strong, determined voice offered: "We will not back away to watch this system destroy him."

A small, pinprick of bright, white light appeared on the adjacent wall. Teal'c's grip tightened around his staff weapon, though he had no real target to bring it against. Then he eyed the twin, white-haired men, still smiling in the center of the room. Despite all the old woman had warned them against, here at least was a target he knew he could damage. If the system was going to 'reprocess' him anyway, he might as well bring part of it down, too. He aimed and fired, effectively destroying both in two clean, quick blasts.

Teal'c noticed Sam's sharp intake of breath, and the fact that she did not expel it, but rather held it, waiting, watching, unwilling to move, unwilling even to breathe. Somehow, her actions calmed him. He lowered his weapon, straightened his back and lifted his head proudly. Then he closed his eyes, accepting his fate.

***

"Well, well, well," Gudrid said. "I have never encountered any like you before."

Her voice began to soften, losing the raspiness of age. Teal'c opened his eyes and saw her appearance change as well. She became a much younger woman, with dark hair and wearing a soft, green dress.

"You are different", She said before she changed again, now taking on the appearance and voice of the bearded man who had delivered the warning message in the orb.

"There have been many who have come before, but none have been so accepting of another's fate." As she spoke she wore a dozen different faces, her voice took on a dozen different tones, as though she were trying to display a gallery of those other visitors.

"What are you?" Sam asked.

"I am all you see. I am what has remained."

"You're what has remained from what?"

"Reprocessing."

"Holy Hannah," The major uttered softly. Then, "You mean you take on the life force of the people you kill?"

"I do not kill. The system reprocesses."

"Right, and you're the system, aren't you?"

"No. That is the Ohmor. We coexist, but there is a difference. The Ohmor has not become as I. It has tried. With each visitor there is a change, a growth. But it has not yet reached such sentience."

"Who created you? How long have you been here?"

"These are questions I cannot answer." She -- it -- took on another face, the face of a young girl with vibrant, red hair and sparkling green eyes. "This, is my earliest awareness."

"Was she a child from the city above?" Teal'c asked.

"The city? No. In my awareness, there has been only those who have come to the Ohmor ."

"But there was an entire civilization up there. What happened to them?" Sam asked.

The child tilted her head. "I do not know this. Perhaps it was before my awareness."

The child became Gudrid again. "Why do you accept another's fate?"

"Because we care about one another," Sam answered. "It isn't right to stand back and watch someone suffer, or ... or be reprocessed. We can't accept *that*."

"I should like to learn your ways," It became another young woman. "That one called Daniel, like you he accepted great suffering to prevent the end of the other. I will like to know his essence."

The words repeated themselves in Sam's mind. *_I will like to know his essence_ *. Suddenly, Sam realized the intent of those words.

"No!" She shouted. "You are not going to reprocess him!"

"I will not. It is the Ohmor who will do so."

"But you can stop it!"

"I can do so, yes."

"And you will."

"Why will I?"

"Because it is the right thing to do."

"What is right?"

"Allowing people their freedom is right. Letting them live their own lives is right. Taking life away from them is wrong."

It became the man from the orb once more. "There is no right or wrong. Only rich or poor. And I choose to be rich!"

"No!" Sam yelled. "You can't take everything you want!"

A young man now. "Your ways are unique. I wish to learn more. The Ohmor will do the reprocessing."

"No! There are other ways to learn!"

"What other ways?"

"We can teach you. We can give you ... we can give the Ohmor data files to process. The Ohmor would be able to absorb those, and if you coexist, then you could absorb them as well."

"This would help the Ohmor to grow?" The question was almost a comment, a suggestion that the changing image was acknowledging a new truth.

"Yes!" Sam insisted.

"Then this you will do."

Sam was not quite ready to allow herself to feel relieved. "Tell the Ohmor to release the colonel first."

The light field dissipated, and Colonel O'Neill dropped to the floor. Teal'c attended to him immediately. Jack was weak. He clutched his ribs and was having some obvious difficulty breathing. But he was at least mobile. Teal'c could dedicate his efforts to carrying Daniel.

The Jaffa turned away from the colonel and was caught in a new energy field. It trapped Teal'c's limbs, then carried him toward the ceiling. He found himself moving through solid rock. Seconds later, he was released into an ancient room lined with torches. There was a Chappa'ai ahead of him. He turned to see Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill on either side.

"Okay," Jack said stiffly. "Carter, dial us home."

"Where is Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c asked his companions.

Sam shouted to the air around her. "Daniel goes too, or no deal!"

"Collateral."

Sam swiveled back to see the bearded man behind her.

"No collateral," The major insisted. "Trust. That's your first lesson."

"Trust?"

"Accept what I say is true. I give you my word that we will send you the files. Believe my word. *_Trust_* me."

Gudrid now, it tilted its head. A moment later, another energy field appeared near the DHD. When it dissipated, the still form of Daniel Jackson was left behind.

"If I regret this trust," Gudrid said, "You too will know regret."

***

"Well, aside from a few cracked ribs and some nasty bruises, Colonel O'Neill seems fine," Dr. Frasier announced.

The colonel sat on a bed in the infirmary, surrounded by Teal'c , Major Carter and General Hammond.

"Good, then I can go," Jack said. He shifted his position and attempted to push himself to his feet, before grimacing in obvious pain. He stopped the effort.

"I won't force you to stay," The good doctor replied, "but you might appreciate the rest."

"He'll stay for the time being, Doctor," General Hammond decided. "What about Dr. Jackson?"

All eyes moved to the bed across the room.

"He was comatose when they brought him in, but he's already starting to respond to stimuli. That's a good sign."

"Very well, Doctor," The general said. "Keep me informed."

Carter followed the general out of the room.

"Sir," She called after him. "Have you thought about what I said about my promise?"

"Yes, Major, I have. I've thought about it a great deal. That system poses a serious threat to us."

"I know, Sir. That's why I think it's important to establish a degree of trust with it. To send the files as I promised."

"Understood, Major. But we also have to consider the alternative, shutting it down completely."

"But sir, I'm not sure we can. Even if we manage to destroy the system, which might not be possible in itself, I'm not sure that creature would be affected. It seems to exist wholly in some sort of energy form. Whatever we do in an attempt to destroy it, might even cause it to grow stronger. Sir, if we make the attempt and fail, we could be facing a more dangerous enemy than the Goa'uld."

"Understood, Major. I will relay your recommendations to the president."

"Thank you, sir."

***

Recovered enough to be released from the infirmary, Daniel Jackson sat in his office and sorted through the files General Hammond had obtained from Washington. As the resident expert on cultural development, Dr. Jackson was given the final say as to which files would be sent back to the Ohmor, and it was not an easy task. Loaded with descriptions of common religious principles and ethical standards, these files made it appear the people of Earth were perfect, angelic beings.

Daniel knew the purpose of the files was to counter the results of years, maybe centuries of data the Ohmor had collected from pirates and other opportunity seekers. Yet he could not help but wonder what effect this alternately skewed data might have.

"Hi," Sam Carter said from his open doorway. "How's it going?"

"Well, I wish I knew more about what we were dealing with. Who built the Ohmor in the first place? If I had more information, I might have a better idea how it thinks, why it became what it did."

"Sorry. I probably should have asked a few more questions while I had its attention."

"Negative, Major," Colonel O'Neill interrupted when he and Teal'c joined Sam in the doorway. Jack was still stiff from his injured ribs. "You got us all out of there. You said absolutely what you had to say, and not a word too much."

"He's right, Sam," Daniel agreed. "I didn't mean to imply you did anything wrong. These are questions I would have asked, and it probably would've gotten us all ... reprocessed."

"Yeah, probably right," The colonel said then. "They're ready for the files, Daniel. Did you make a decision?"

"I guess so."

"You *_guess_* so? We're on shaky ground here negotiating with HAL, and you *_guess_* you made the right decision?"

Daniel gave the colonel a sideways look, then rose to join his team-mates. While Sam moved on ahead, Colonel O'Neill hung back with Daniel. Teal'c hovered nearby, assuming the role of protector to both.

"You did good back there, Daniel," O'Neill said then. "More than I could have. Face it; I just don't have that kind of patience. We would've both been soylent green. By the way, while we're on that subject, why didn't you stop me from eating those *_crackers_*?"

Teal'c tilted his head curiously. "Colonel O'Neill, what is soylent green?"

Jack resisted the urge to do a Charlton Heston impersonation. He instead turned the infamous line into a simple statement of fact. "People, Teal'c. Soylent green is people."

An hour later, a MALP was sent back through the Stargate to the Ohmor's coordinates, loaded with the files Dr. Daniel Jackson had personally selected. The archeologist subconsciously crossed his fingers as he watched it disappear into the event horizon.

***

THE END


End file.
